


I Met You Once and Never Again

by tuesdaysinoctober



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, In between canon, What would happen if Jet and Ty Lee met, short period of time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28543119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesdaysinoctober/pseuds/tuesdaysinoctober
Summary: Jet and Ty Lee meet, once, for a few days and never see each other again. That doesn't mean they forget one another.
Relationships: Jet/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	I Met You Once and Never Again

**Author's Note:**

> This is the long promised Jetlee fic!! After much procrastination and the transition from a multi-chapter fic to a oneshot, it is here. Little bit of background. Ty Lee's first appearance is in "Return to Omashu" and Jet's second appearance, after "Jet" is in "The Serpent's Pass." Basically, all we know is that Jet and Ty Lee were both travelling around the same time and so it's perfectly plausible that they might have met at some point and this fic explores what might have happened if they met

She can remember the day she met Jet very clearly.

He came into their circus camp with his Freedom Fighters -- that’s what he called them -- wired and ready for a fight. Beneath his half smile and easy confidence, it was easy for Ty Lee to see that he was tired. Tired physically, definitely, as she later found out they had been traveling to Half Moon Bay for days but also tired beneath the surface and she wanted to know _why_.

It took a couple of days for her to find out.

He and his two companions took a day to rest, to eat, while the circus troupe prepared for their next performance. She didn’t talk to him then, although her friend Kori did, and Kori eagerly reported that Jet was as deep as he was handsome.

Ty Lee giggled with her, but she was more invested in memorizing her new routine. There were a couple of added flips that weren’t hard to land, just hard to time properly with the rest of the acts.

She didn’t actually meet Jet until he tracked her down after rehearsal.

“Do you live in the trees?” he asks.

“Of course not. It just takes a little bit of practice.”

“Is that all you do?”

“No. I work on my chi-blocking. And I watch the other rehearsals take place.”

“Chi-blocking?”

“It’s a way to disable someone’s bending. Self-defense.”

“Do you find yourself disabling benders that often?” His face has shifted from easy to uncomfortable.

“Just in case.”

“Ah.” His face goes back to easy but there’s still something shifting under there. “Would you like to eat with me?”

“Sure.”

It’s a simple conversation-- Do you have any family? What are you doing here? But Ty Lee can tell that they’re both holding something back.

“Why are you so tired?” she asks, after they’ve both finished their food. Jet is laying on his elbows, chewing on a piece of wheat.

“What?” he says, startled.

“Why are you so tired?” she repeats.

“I _have _been travelling for days,” he replies with a grin.__

__“No, I mean up here,” she says, tapping her head. “And in here.” Tapping her heart._ _

__“I’m not-- what makes you think that?”_ _

__“Oh, your aura is dull. Very dull. Only occurs when someone is feeling down. Or, you know. Tired.”_ _

__Jet considers this, tipping his head to look at her. She smiles at him._ _

__“How could you tell? About my aura or whatever?”_ _

__She shrugs. “It’s something I picked up with chi-blocking. I learned that at--” she stops. The troupe knows she’s Fire Nation -- some of them are too-- but no one but the ringmaster quite knows the full story of where she came from._ _

__“What were you going to say?” Jet asks._ _

__“I think you should go first.”_ _

__“I wasn’t going to say anything.”_ _

__“Are you sure? You seemed like you were going to say something before you asked about auras.”_ _

__“How could you tell?” He looks confused and a little on guard._ _

__“You hesitated before asking.”_ _

__He stays quiet for a little bit, rolling the wheat piece between his fingers before speaking._ _

__“My parents were killed by the Fire Nation,” he says slowly. “And me and my band of Freedom Fighters were attacking Fire Nation soldiers, sometimes saving villages from them.”_ _

__She nods, silently wrestling with the fact that her people killed his parents and he decided to get revenge on them for that. A cycle she doesn’t want to repeat._ _

__“I was going to flood a village,” Jet says, continuing his story. He doesn’t look at her when he says this, his face ashamed. “It would’ve been a blow against the Fire Nation, a huge one. They had this camp there and it would’ve devastated them so badly. The village too, but that was a risk I was prepared to take. We, uh, came across these kids. . . actually, they were my age. Or our age? I’m not--”_ _

__“Fifteen,” she says, raising her hand._ _

__“Yeah, they were travelling together and they stopped my plan. For the better, I think, but she was really upset with me. They left and the Freedom Fighters disbanded. Went their own ways. Smellerbee and Longshot came with me. We’re heading to Full Moon Bay. Going to Ba Sing Se. A place I can do less harm and more good.”_ _

__She stays silent, taking this in. She’s heard of worse things, she’s _seen_ worse things and this boy is obviously remorseful for his actions or some of them._ _

__“So you’re tired of what?”_ _

__“I’m tired of doing the wrong things for the right reasons. How can I find out what the right way to do things is? How can I make sure that I don’t hurt people anymore?”_ _

__Ty Lee thinks that there’s a person behind his “people” statement and she thinks it’s one of the kids he was talking about earlier._ _

__“That’s up to you,” she says. “You have to make the conscious decision to act the way you think you should. Find someone to be your guide. Think about what they’d do instead.”_ _

__He nods, sinking into himself. It’s not a look that suits him well. This is a boy supposed to be made of confidence and easy grins. But he’s obviously thinking. It reminds her of Azula for a little bit, how she’d go suddenly quiet with her ideas for the next scheme, the next plot, how to get more love._ _

_Azula_. How long has it been since she’s seen her? Since they’ve laughed together? She misses her, and Mai too, although the way she misses the two of them is different. But a part of Ty Lee is glad she’s not around her, here to say sly things about everyone. It’s energy that Ty Lee doesn’t want, energy Ty Lee doesn’t need but Azula is her friend and you have to show friends you care, that you love them but what if she doesn’t? What if Azula doesn’t love her the way Ty Lee loves her? 

__Jet has risen from his sunken position and is now studying her curiously._ _

__“What about you?” he says._ _

__“Me?”_ _

__“No, the girl over there. Yes, you. What’s your story?”_ _

__Ty Lee purses her lips. “It’s a simple one. Two parents, too many sisters. I was sent to the--”_ _

__She hesitates. How will Jet react to this? Not well, if he was going to flood a village to kill some Fire Nation soldiers._ _

__“I was sent to an academy for girls, where I met my two closest friends. I-- well, it was bliss with them for a little while, although now that I look back on it, there’s some things I wish we hadn’t done. We were so young, though, I don’t know if you could really blame us but we were terrible sometimes. Anyway, I went back home at thirteen, some sort of family reunion and here were all my sisters, being all lovely and talented. I was shoved to the back, but I ran away a month later.”_ _

__“Joined the circus? That’s what you chose to do?”_ _

__“I’m a gymnast. Unless I wanted to be a-- it was just the best choice for me.”_ _

__“What sort of mischief did you get into?”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“At your academy, your school. What type of mischief did you and your friends get into?”_ _

__“We were all over the place, teasing each other, teasing others,” she says with a smile. “Azul-- my friend was always the mastermind.”_ _

__She pauses and he raises his eyebrows at her. “Got more to say?”_ _

__“Oh, not really. I was just thinking about how much I missed my friends but I don’t know if it was so good all the time.”_ _

__“What do you mean?”_ _

__“I remember having fun with them and I remember loving them and wanting to be around them, like all friendships. But sometimes. . . sometimes she’d just make me feel so horrible, although I don’t think it was really her fault. Her father was terrible to her and her brother, but I don’t know if she ever realized it. She took it out on us, though. We were so young. . . I hope she’s doing alright now. I haven’t written her a letter in ages.”_ _

__Jet dips his head to look at her. “ But now you’re here.”_ _

__“Now I’m here.”_ _

__“Do you--” he cuts himself off._ _

__“What?” she asks. “What were you going to say?”_ _

__“Well, it’s personal,” Jet says, flashing a smile._ _

__“Like we haven’t spilled our life stories to one another,” she says, smiling back._ _

__“Aw, yeah, but this is kind of different. Do you, uh, think you’re doing better here?”_ _

__“My aura is brighter, if that’s what you mean. I can tell.”_ _

__“No, are you doing more good here? Being a good person? Feeling better about your relationships?”_ _

__“I think so. I’m helping out when I’m needed and I like cooking with the others. Eating together.”_ _

She pauses for a bit, tilting her head, thinking. Has she really been better? She hasn’t hurt anyone, not like when she was younger, with Azula and Mai. And she’s with a family, an actual family and even though they aren’t blood, they’re still _something_. 

__“I think I could be better,” she says quietly._ _

__“Me too,” he says. “I could be a lot better than I am right now. So what if we made a deal?”_ _

__“What sort of deal?”_ _

__“Anytime we think we’re going to do something that could hurt others, we could think of each other. As a reminder. You know. To be better. To not hurt people anymore.”_ _

__“Okay,” she says. Ty Lee holds out her hand and Jet takes it, grasping her hand tightly. Her fingers, while slim and nimble, are enveloped by Jet’s although his are as slim as hers._ _

__They say their goodbyes, sure that they won’t see each other again. He’s leaving tomorrow, apparently, although she found that out from Kori, not him._ _

__But as she’s returning from washing the dishes, after dark, once everyone’s in bed, she runs into him. They stare at each other for a moment, before he kisses her fast and light, pulling away quickly. Ty Lee stares at him for a minute. His mouth opens immediately._ _

__“I won’t ever see you again,” he says quietly._ _

__“No, I know. It’s very unlikely,” she says back._ _

__“I want to remember you, and not just because of the promise.”_ _

__Ty Lee goes up on her tiptoes and kisses him softly before hugging him tightly._ _

__“Just remember,” she whispers._ _

__“I won’t forget it,” he says back and they part in different directions._ _

__Azula comes three weeks later._ _

__She asks Ty Lee to capture the Avatar with her. Ty Lee had heard stories that the Avatar was back but she never really believed it. If Azula is asking her, it must be true. And as much as Ty Lee aches to go with her friend, aches to be with her, to laugh with her and listen to her plots again, her promise rings clear in her head. Only harm can come from this. And memories linger of Azula’s cruel words. Which is why she says no. At first._ _

__Ty Lee cannot refuse Azula when she asks for a show. She has improved over the two years she’s been gone and it’ll be a treat to show Azula how much improvement Ty Lee’s really made._ _

__But then Azula throws danger her way and Ty Lee remembers the other side of her friend, the side that she shows in subtler ways._ _

__That’s why she travels with Azula to Omashu to recruit Mai. That’s why she fights against the Avatar and his friends. She remembers her promise but tosses it out of her head. It’s Mai and Azula and they are her dearest people. She will not forget that._ _

__She will not forget the harm that Azula causes people. The harm that Azula caused her. Maybe she can limit Azula’s harm this way. It doesn't quite work._ _

__Ty Lee remembers her promise at the Boiling Rock._ _

__She’s seen Azula hurt many people but Mai will not be one of them._ _

__Years later, after the war, she thinks of Jet and their promise and wonders what has become of him. She wonders if he kept his promise._ _

__Ty Lee will never know how hard he tried._ _

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn't think about what Ty Lee joining Azula meant until after I was introduced to the idea of Jetlee. I think it's interesting that both Ty Lee and Jet have some sort of inclination to do the right thing, although they're both motivated by different things, Ty Lee being motivated by love (love for Mai after betraying Azula at The Boiling Rock) and Jet being motivated by revenge (his attacking Fire Nation soldiers and his attacking Zuko and Iroh after finding out they're firebenders). It's so fascinating? I can't explain it and I had a lot of fun (and difficulty) exploring them making a pact with each other to be better and then Ty Lee regressing out of fear for Azula, but still thinking she can limit the harm that could be caused and Jet dying before he could actually truly follow through with it. Big thanks to My_Bated_Breath for helping me work through Ty Lee and Azula's/Jet and Katara's respective relationships


End file.
